Am I doing the wrong training program?

Pickles11

I am working on training for my first race- a 10k. I have always been pretty active and could always jump on a treadmill and run 5k after not running for awhile.

I found a training program that is called "run 10k faster" because the beginner programs looked too easy for me (I didn't want to walk, and I didn't want to only run a short period each day).

I'm into week 6 of this schedule, and I'm loving it. However, I looked back at my times and I seemed to not have improved much.

Instead of distances, the program tells me a time to run (example: warm up 10 minutes, run 30-40 minutes, cool down 10 minutes). Because of this, I haven't really been pushing myself to speed up. There are days where I am doing speed intervals, etc. but I often use the same pace. I also am stuck doing it on a treadmill until our 10 feet of snow disappears.

My question is- should I find a different program that incorporates more of a set speed I'm supposed to go? I have seem many articles that tell you to do tempo runs, etc but not this one. Or is there a way to increase my speed while doing the program I'm on?

Pebble321

Have a look at Runners World, their smart coach app gives you a pace to work at for each workout and includes intervals etc.
Or Runkeeper, but I think you have to pay for them.

rybo

I don't understand why you can't just make one of your runs a tempo run? A good place to start is just take one run
and push "comfortably hard" for the length of time you are supposed to run. 10 min warm up, 30 mins psuhing it, 10 mins cool down.

what923

Ditto to Ruby- I was going to recommend the Smart Coach. You can put in your best time (or goal time) and it will give you a program. Biggest lesson I learned last year- I was always trying to run weekly at a 'race' pace- that is overtraining! The Smart Coach program calls for running at much slower than your goal pace but it is good preparation for that. My friend used it last year and ran the goal pace it predicted for her during her first half. So I'm using it to try and improve my time for my upcoming spring 1/2 marathon. I also monitor by heart rate- I happen to go faster than it calls for on the long runs but I go at whatever pace keeps my HR in the mid 150s which is a zone I know I can maintain very well for 2+ hours. Longer runs are just to log the miles and build the endurance...if we go for 'race' pace all the time it wears the body down and you will 'bonk'- not fun as that's what happened to me last summer. So give that a whirl- good luck.

scottb81

I like programs that set a time, rather than a distance to run. The reason is that your body respnds to (training stress x duration). So, a program that trains you for a set time, rather than a distance will not undertrain a fast runner or overtrain a slow runner. As far as how fast you should be running, you need to run at paces that reflect your current fitness level. If you have a current race time, plug it into the pace calculator at http://www.mcmillanrunning.com/index.php/site/calculator to get your training paces. If you do not have a recent race, then run a mile as fast as you possibly can and use that time in the calculator.

You should train at paces that reflect your current fitness, not goal race pace. Paces that reflect your current fitness are what lead to improvement and faster races.

I suspect you are running all your training runs too slow. Recovery running should be conversational. Easy running should be a bit beyond conversational although you should be able to still speak phrases if you want to. You should finish feeling like you could easily go further. Steady state and tempo running should be non-conversational, if you can speak more than one or two words you are going too slow.

Also, I don't know how much mileage is in your program. However, the more mileage you can run and recover from the faster you will improve.

Weathers58

All good advice on here and to speed up you need fartlek hills etc as well as long runs.

As said on here look at mixing it up, there are plenty of training programs on runnersworld etc.

You should feel a bit sore after a particularly hard run.

Finally get some carbs and protein in you post run

Just my opinion

BerryH

For a first 10K, the most important thing is to make sure you can cover the distance. Discounting the warm-up and cool down, you need to make sure you build up to a total distance of 10K at least two weeks before the race so you can taper, whatever speed you do it at. It certainly takes a slowcoach like me more than an hour!

Have a different target for each session you do, say:
Tuesday - 30 mins recovery run
Wednesday - Intervals
Friday - Tempo
Sunday - Long slow run building up to 10K.

Speeds are relative. You sounds quite fit, so if you're aiming for a 55 min 10K, go for 11.9kph/7.4mph (if I've got my sums right!), for instance on your long runs. For the faster sessions, do them at rate of perceived exertion, where for you, personally, 1 is barely ticking over, 5 you could keep up indefinitely and 10 is "OMG I'm going to puke if I do more than 30 second". On a scale of 1-10, long slow runs should be around 7, recovery 5, intervals 9 and tempo 8.

Pickles11

Great advice- thanks so much everyone.

Just yesterday I did 10K on my treadmill in 63 mins (I was supposed to do a 60 min run and couldn't help but finish the 10k).

I definitely need to start thinking about my speeds and improving on them because it's hard to think about that when you're on the treadmill- I feel like I do what I have it set at and not what I can do. I can't wait until I can get outside to start training.

johnlatv

Scott said it best... but it sure won't hurt taking one of those days and do speed work, whatever the total time is for that day, just do speed work.